FOIA Guide, 2004 Edition: Exemption 7(F)

Freedom of Information Act Guide, May 2004

Exemption 7(F)

Exemption 7(F) permits the withholding of law enforcement-related
information necessary to protect the physical safety of a wide range of individuals.
This exemption provides broad protection to "any individual" when disclosure of
information about him "could reasonably be expected to endanger [his] life or
physical safety." (1)

Prior to the 1986 FOIA amendments, (2) Exemption 7(F) by its former terms
protected records that "would . . . endanger the life or physical safety of law
enforcement personnel," (3) and it had been invoked to protect both federal and local
law enforcement officers. (4) Cases decided after the 1986 FOIA amendments continue
this strong protection for law enforcement agents. (5)

Under the amended language of Exemption 7(F), courts have applied the
broader coverage now offered by the exemption, holding that it can afford
protection of the "names and identifying information of . . . federal employees, and
third persons who may be unknown" to the requester in connection with particular
law enforcement matters. (6) Withholding such information can be necessary in order
to protect such persons from possible harm by a requester who has threatened
them in the past. (7) Indeed, many courts have held that the very expansive language
of "any individual" encompasses the protection of the identities of informants. (8)

Significantly, Exemption 7(F) protection has been held to remain applicable
even after a law enforcement officer subsequently retired. (9) Moreover, it has been
held that Exemption 7(F) can be employed to protect even the identities of
individuals who testified at the requester's criminal trial. (10) And one court approved a
rather novel, but certainly appropriate, application of this exemption to a description
in an FBI laboratory report of a homemade machine gun because its disclosure
would create the real possibility that law enforcement officers would have to face
"individuals armed with homemade devices constructed from the expertise of other
law enforcement people." (11)

When Exemption 7(F) was broadened by the 1986 FOIA amendments, that
action created a broader potential for the exemption that obviously had yet to be
fully realized. (12) Now, in the current post-September 11, 2001 homeland security
environment, Exemption 7(F) provides vital new avenues of protection for sensitive
information that could prove deadly if obtained by those seeking to do harm to the
public on a large scale. (13) Indeed, a court recently found Exemption 7(F) readily
available to protect against disclosure of "inundation maps" that showed projected
patterns in which downstream areas would be catastrophically flooded in the event
of breaches in nearby dams. (14) The court reasoned that releasing such information in
the face of current homeland security concerns "could increase the risk of an attack"
on one dam over another, and on such dam targets overall, because terrorists would
be able to use these maps to estimate the amount of damage and carnage caused
by flooding. (15)

Although Exemption 7(F)'s coverage is in large part duplicative of that
afforded by Exemption 7(C), it is potentially broader in that no balancing is required
for withholding under Exemption 7(F), (16) so agencies should give careful
consideration to the added measure of protection that it affords in all law
enforcement contexts. (17) Indeed, it is difficult to imagine any circumstance in which
the public's interest in disclosure could outweigh the personal safety of any
individual. (18)

In sum, Exemption 7(F) has proven to be of great utility to law enforcement
agencies, given the lessened "could reasonably be expected" harm standard now in
effect. (19) Agencies can reasonably infer from this modification that they have
Congress's approval to withhold information whenever they determine that there is
a reasonable likelihood of its disclosure risking physical harm to anyone. (20)

7. See, e.g., Ortloff v. United States Dep't
of Justice, No. 98-2819, slip op. at 10 (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2002) (finding
the withholding of the "name of one witness who was identified as being
potentially subject to future harm" proper, given plaintiff's conviction
for violent acts); Shores v. FBI, 185 F. Supp. 2d 77, 85 (D.D.C.
2002) (approving the nondisclosure of names of, and identifying information
about, three cooperating witnesses when information obtained from one of
those witnesses led to plaintiff's murder conviction and "prompted [p]laintiff
to attempt to have a member of that witness' [sic] family murdered"); Blanton,
182 F. Supp. 2d at 87 (protecting identities of FBI Special Agents and non-law
enforcement personnel assisting in investigation, because "[e]ven though
[requester] is incarcerated, his threats against persons responsible for
his arrest and now his conviction make it possible that these individuals
could be targets of physical harm"); Burke v. United States Dep't of
Justice, No. 96-1739, 1999 WL 1032814, at *9 (D.D.C. Sept. 30, 1999)
(finding that disclosing identities of "agents, other agencies' personnel
and sources could expose [them] to violent retaliation," given requester's
violent history); Anderson v. United States Dep't of Justice, No.
95-1888, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4731, at **10-11 (D.D.C. Mar. 31, 1999) (finding
that releasing witnesses' names could subject them to harassment and threats,
given requester's history of carrying firearms); Crooker v. IRS,
No. 94-0755, 1995 WL 430605, at *5 (D.D.C. Apr. 27, 1995) (protecting confidential
informants when requester has history of harassing, intimidating, and abusing
witnesses); Manna v. United States Dep't of Justice, 815 F. Supp.
798, 810 (D.N.J. 1993) (finding that releasing FBI reports would endanger
life or physical safety of associates of requester in organized crime case),aff'd on other grounds, 51 F.3d 1158 (3d Cir. 1995); Author Servs.
v. IRS, No. 90-2187, slip op. at 7 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 1991) (withholding
identities of third parties and handwriting and identities of IRS employees
in view of previous conflict and hostility between parties).

11. LaRouche v. Webster, No. 75-6010, 1984
WL 1061, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 23, 1984); accordFOIA Post,
"New Attorney General FOIA Memorandum Issued" (posted 10/15/01) (discussing
use of Exemption 2 to protect critical systems, facilities, stockpiles,
and other assets from security breaches and harm given their potential for
use as weapons of mass destruction in and of themselves); see alsoPfeffer, No. 89-899, slip op. at 4 (D.D.C. Apr. 14, 1990) (approving
withholding of information on smuggling of weapons into prison); cf.FOIA Post, "Guidance on Homeland Security Information Issued" (posted
3/21/02) (instructing agencies to take appropriate action to safeguard information
related to America's homeland security by giving careful consideration to
all applicable FOIA exemptions, such as Exemption 2); Lawyers Comm. for
Human Rights v. INS, 721 F. Supp. 552, 571 (S.D.N.Y. 1989) (declining
to identify individuals listed in INS Lookout Book on basis of "ideological
exclusion" provision other than by occupation and country, because "some
individuals could be placed in grave danger in their own countries if it
were learned that the American government suspects them of being affiliated
with terrorist organizations") (Exemption 7(C)).

12. SeeAttorney General's Memorandum on
the 1986 Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act 18 (Dec. 1987)
[hereinafter Attorney General's 1986 Amendments Memorandum] (discussing
the amendments, and stating that agencies should consider the modifications
of Exemption 7(F) as a signal to rely on it "whenever there is any reasonable
likelihood of a FOIA disclosure endangering any person"); see alsoNARA v. Favish, 124 S. Ct. 1570, 1579 (evincing the Supreme Court's
reliance on "the Attorney General's consistent interpretation of" the FOIA
in successive such Attorney General memoranda), reh'g denied, No.
02-409, 2004 WL 1085633 (U.S. May 17, 2004).

13. Cf.FOIA Post, "New Attorney General
FOIA Memorandum Issued" (posted 10/15/01) (discussing the "need to protect
critical systems, facilities, stockpiles, and other assets from security
breaches and harm -- and in some instances from their potential use as weapons
of mass destruction in and of themselves," as well as "any agency information
that could enable someone to succeed in causing the feared harm").

14. Living Rivers, Inc. v. United States Bureau
of Reclamation, 272 F. Supp. 2d 1313, 1321-22 (D. Utah 2003) (finding
that disclosure of inundation maps could reasonably be expected to place
at risk lives of individuals in downstream areas that would be flooded by
breach of dams by increasing risk of terrorist attacks on dams); see
alsoCtr. for Nat'l Sec. Studies v. United States Dep't of Justice,
215 F. Supp. 2d 94, 106, 108-09 (D.D.C. 2002) (holding that while Exemption
7(F) does not protect names of individuals detained after terrorist attack,
or identities of their attorneys, it does protect dates and locations of
their detention, arrest, and release), rev'd in other part, aff'd in
part on other grounds & remanded, 331 F.3d 918 (D.C. Cir. 2003)
(Exemption 7(A)), cert. denied, 124 S. Ct. 1041 (2004).

15. Living Rivers, 272 F. Supp. 2d at 1321-22
(concluding that the requested FOIA disclosure could "aid in carrying out
a terrorist attack").

17. Accord Attorney General's Memorandum for
Heads of All Federal Departments and Agencies Regarding the Freedom of Information
Act (Oct. 12, 2001) [hereinafter Attorney General Ashcroft's FOIA Memorandum],reprinted inFOIA Post (posted 10/15/01) ("I encourage your
agency to carefully consider the protection of all [applicable] values and
interests when making disclosure determinations under the FOIA."); see
alsoFOIA Post, "FOIA Officers Conference Held on Homeland
Security" (posted 7/3/03) (identifying homeland security context as within
realm of law enforcement for purposes of FOIA protection, and discussing
Exemption 7(F) as basis for protecting sensitive homeland security-related
information).

18. SeeColon v. Executive Office for United
States Attorneys, No. 98-0180, 1998 WL 695631, at *6 (D.D.C. Sept. 29,
1998) (reiterating that it is not in public interest to disclose identities
of law enforcement officers); Franklin, No. 97-1225, slip op. at
15 (S.D. Fla. June 15, 1998) (magistrate's recommendation) (finding that
"it is in the public interest" to protect names of DEA agents), adopted
(S.D. Fla. June 26, 1998).